Such things are in the eye of the beholder... But given the photo was taken hand-held in dim light (they are forest birds), the slow shutter speed and the small size of the original, I think the lens performed well.

What do YOU think?

FWIW, I think you're right. Given that the shot was hand held, I don't see how it could have been improved.

Re: Non-L 70-300 Canon Lenses

Like many zooms I felt the sweet spot was in the f5.6 - f8 region and since the birds flit around VERY repidly I kept the DoF as deep as I dared. I like the 80D body for this lens, with the battery grip on (as with all my Canon DSLR bodies) it had a nice balance. Not to say that it doesn't balance well on the 5D III and IV bodies, but they are a bit heavier.

Re: Non-L 70-300 Canon Lenses

Given the conditions I think it shows your talent more than it shows the lens ability. When a photograph needs qualifiers is it truly a good shot? The fact is, if you are good with it, so am I. All in for you.

Given the conditions I think it shows your talent more than it shows the lens ability. When a photograph needs qualifiers is it truly a good shot? The fact is, if you are good with it, so am I. All in for you.

Aw shucks... now I'm all red and blushing!

Thank you for the kind complement (I hope!). PERSONALLY I like to know the context of an image when I consider its merit - why, perhaps where, certainly the constraints. In this case I was challenged by very low light and I felt the conditions would challenge the camera, the lens and me. I was right, the little dears flitted around like rockets and I took a lot of images before I manged to get one in shot - not an untypical situation in bird photography. Still, considering the lens, I was impressed by the image stabilization, the blazing fast focus and the fact it didn't weigh anything like as much as my much-loved 100-400 lens. Sharpness is pretty good too I thought.

Re: Non-L 70-300 Canon Lenses

I think that totally proves my critique. Great photos whether in a challenging place or not are not done by the gear. It is the person using it that makes the shot. I would be willing to bet you a large sum of money that if you put the very same gear out there and left it alone for as long as you want, it still would not have gotten that shot. Mine doesn't anyway.

I used to tell my classes great photos are 1/2 camera/lens, 1/2 post editing and 1/2 you. Not necessarily in that order. Yeah beginners don't understand it but as you progress it starts to make sense. Sometimes the major effort is not where you expect to find it and sometimes, just sometimes, you need just that little more effort (hence the three 1/2 sections).